Conor Benn could forgo his WBC mandatory position, sacrificing his shot at the winner of Mario Barrios vs Ryan Garcia, in pursuit of an alternative world title opportunity.
The 29-year-old became the WBC’s leading welterweight contender following his rematch with Chris Eubank Jr, which was fought at 160lbs, in November.
On that particular night, Benn, who has not fought at 147lbs since 2021, was able to exact his revenge over Eubank with a dominant unanimous decision victory.
As a result, he now occupies a favourable position to face the winner of Barrios-Garcia, which takes place at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, on February 21.
But while he could, of course, wait for his opportunity to claim the WBC title, there is equally a chance that ‘The Destroyer’ may choose to face Rolando Romero instead.
The 30-year-old claimed his WBA secondary title with a points victory over Garcia in May, before being upgraded from ‘regular’ to full world welterweight champion.
More recently, though, ‘Rolly’ was ordered to defend his belt against WBA interim champion Shakhram Giyasov, who has been the sanctioning body’s mandatory challenger for quite some time.
In a bid to overcome this hurdle, Benn’s promoter Eddie Hearn has suggested that a ‘solution’ might be found, allowing the Londoner to leapfrog Giyasov and face Romero.
Having already spoken with Luis DeCubas, Romero’s manager, Hearn told iFL TV that a clash between Benn and ‘Rolly’ could soon be in the works.
“[It’s] a fight that myself and Luis DeCubas have been discussing. I mentioned it [on Thursday] with Keith Connolly [Benn’s manager]; Conor’s coming to New York next week [and] we’re all going to have dinner.
“‘Romero has to fight Shakhram Giyasov – [the fight has] been ordered [by the WBA], no escape – so we would have to find a solution for that.
“Conor’s got a tough decision because, obviously, Ryan Garcia’s fighting Barrios on Feb 21. Benn wants to fight the winner, [but] there’s rumours that the winner of that fight could fight the winner of [Teofimo Lopez vs Shakur Stevenson].
“For Conor, the Ryan Garcia fight is bigger than the ‘Rolly’ Romero fight. But the ‘Rolly’ Romero fight, in the UK, for the world championship, is also a very big fight.
“Personally, I like the Romero fight. I think it does great business in London.”
With Lopez defending his WBO super-lightweight strap against Stevenson at Madison Square Garden, New York, next week, perhaps there will, indeed, be an opportunity for the winner to enter an immediate world title fight at 147lbs.
